CTA Skokie Swift under the wires - March 29-30 2004

CTA's Yellow Line, the Skokie Swift uses the tracks of the old North Shore Line and until late 2004 the trains used overhead catenary rather than 3rd rail for much of the route.

I spent a couple of days on this trip documenting this bit of historic infrastructure.

First up was the north end of the line, the Dempster St terminal in Skokie IL. The original NSL station has been moved slightly and restored as retail space. An interlocking tower was still standing at that point as well.

Next, half a dozen trains were filmed at the Searle Pkwy grade crossing.

The curve at Oakton St was used for a number of publicity photos back in the day. North of the grade crossing an additional station opened in 2012, but in 2004 this was still a non stop run between Dempster and Howard St.

Once around Oakton Curve, the line heads east through a residential neighborhood ending at East Prairie Rd before passing the Skokie Shop complex and climbing a grade. After catching single shots at Kildare Ave & E Prairie, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Kostner Ave.

The next day, we were back at East Prairie Rd for a pair of trains in each direction, and then 5 trains (and a couple of fire trucks) at Crawford Ave.

Just before leaving Skokie, eastbound trains cross the North Shore Channel on a truss bridge.

Once into Evanston, the tracks drop into a cut & pass under several city streets and the UP tracks before arriving at the CTA Howard St station. These last shots were taken from the Custer Ave bridge.